tion, and correspond so faithfully with the grace of God. After some regulations and advice, I left this interesting people, and pursuing my journey for three days over mountains and through dense forests, arrived safely at Fort Colville.
Amongst the innumerable rivers that traverse the American continent, and afford means of communication between its most distant portions, the Columbia river is . one of the most remarkable, not only on account of its great importance, west of the mountains, but also from the dangers that attend its navigation. At some distance from the Pacific Ocean, crossing a territory which exhibits, in several localities, evident marks of former volcanic eruptions, its course is frequently impeded by rapids, by chains of volcanic rocks, and immense detached masses of the same substance which, in many places, obstruct the bed of the river.
I embarked on this river, on the 3oth of May, in one of the barges of the Hudson Bay Company; 1\1r. Ogden,' one of the principal proprietors, offered me a place in his. I shall never forget the kindness and friendly manner with which this gentleman treated me throughout the journey, nor the many agreeable hours I spent in his company. I found his conversation instructive, his anecdotes and bon mots entertaining and timely; it was with great regret that I parted from him.
I will not detain you with a description of the rapids, falls and cascades, which I saw on this celebrated river; for from its source in the mountains to the cascades it is but a succession of clangers. I will endeavor, however, to give you some idea of one of its largest rapids, called bv the Canadian voyageurs the Great Dalles. A dalle is a
s Peter Skeen Ogden, son of Chief justice Ogden of Quebec, formerly a Tory resident of New York. Served successively with Astor, the Northwest Company and the Hudson Bay Company; discoverer of Humboldt river; died at Oregon City in 1854, at the age of sixty.